This application requests funds to offset the costs of travel for the speakers who will participate in the Forty-eighth Annual Symposium on Fundamental Cancer Research, "Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer", sponsored by The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The meeting will be held from October 17, 1995 through October 20, 1995 in Houston, Texas at the J. W. Marriott Hotel. A longstanding tradition and goal of these annual symposia is to attract a faculty of outstanding quality and scientific leaders to address a timely and current topic of interest and relevance to cancer. Invited speakers are asked not only to present their most recent data, but to identify areas and issues for future study. Educational opportunities, especially for students, are provided throughout the meeting by design. Ample time is scheduled for formal questions/answers during each of the five sessions. Additionally, poster sessions are scheduled at which proffered poster abstracts are displayed. A special emphasis is made to encourage student and junior faculty participation in these sessions. Time for informal discussions is provided during breaks and scheduled food functions (lunches in the poster room and receptions). This symposium will focus on fundamental cellular mechanisms which control cell growth and differentiation. This area of research has seen many new developments in recent years including the discovery of new molecules involved in the processes controlling growth and differentiation. Furthermore, mutations have been identified in a large number of regulatory proteins that can lead to abnormal cellular proliferation. The theme of the meeting will be carried through five sessions: Session 1. Cell Fate Specifications during Embryonic Development; Session 2. Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms; Session 3. Cancer Susceptibility Genes; Session 4. Control of Cell Cycle; Session 5. Growth Factors and Signaling Mechanisms. In addition to the invited session speakers, the Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award will be presented to Dr. Alfred Knudson who proposed the notion of tumor suppressors by articulating the landmark two-hit hypothesis for cancer. The keynote address will be delivered by another eminent scientist, Dr. Arnold Levine who discovered the p53 tumor suppressor gene. The Wilson S. Stone Memorial Award will be presented to an outstanding young scientist whose research in the field has made significant contributions to biomedical sciences. A poster session will serve as the basis for intense discussions by the participants of work related to the major topics of the meeting. Students and junior faculty will be especially encouraged to present poster abstracts.